For the past 19 years, I have spent my summers on the baseball diamond umpiring. I have umpired everything from little league to college. I have attended the Harry Wendelstedt umpire school twice. This blog will be a combination of stories and lessons I have learned along the way.

Friday, June 24, 2011

You make the call

This happened the other night in a game I was working. Let's see how you would have ruled.

Runner on first. The pitcher comes set and the runner leaves early. Without stepping off, the pitcher spins and throws to second to make the play on the runner. Is this a balk for throwing to an unoccupied base?

I ruled the runner out at second. Which started a huge argument where the coach wanted the balk called. I tried to explain that if the pitcher is making a play, it's not a balk. He didn't believe me and pulled out his rulebook and asked me to show it to him. I told him that I wasn't going to stop the game but that if he read through the pitcher section he would see it in there.